Young Stanley Tam had failed in his silver reclamation businesseven though he had tithed since its beginning! “Why God?” he prayed as he drove homeward with numb disappointment.
Then an inner voice from the Lord seemed to say, “You don’t need to fail; turn your business over to Me and let Me run it. Remember the promise. ‘My God shall supply....’ ” Finally, Tam replied: “Take it God and if you’ll make it succeed, I’ll honor you in every way I can.”
He returned home and the business grew. Many months later, after he had married, he wrestled with his conscience once more and told his wife, “I feel God would have us take a bigger step of faith than tithing and make Him a senior partner in the business50% of the stock belong to Him.”
States Smelting and Refining Corp. of Lima, Ohio, was reorganized that way. Soon a new corporation, United States Plastic, was added to God’s partnership. Growth was so phenomenal that the IRS audited their books for 10 consecutive years. Dividends from God’s 51% were put into the Stanita Foundation which helps overseas missionaries mainly. As the business passed the multi-million dollar mark, God’s share was upped to 60% annually.
Then one day the ultimate happened. Stan and Juanita Tam turned over the ownership of the entire business to God. They became just salaried employees. Since then, a new plant quadrupled its original size sprung up and the business continued to prosper.
[Reproduced with permission from Encylopedia of 15,000 Illustrations, by Paul Lee Tan, Communications, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1998, #4276]
[Editor's note: Stanley Tam is author of God Owns My Business and God's Woodshed, and a motivating speaker with deep Christian convictions. The Tams give in excess of $3 million annually for God's work around the world, and have dedicated more than 300 churches. For resource information contact United States Plastic, web: htp://www.usplastic.com or
1-800-537-9724.]